Northeast D1, D2 and D3

Salad76 said:
D1 Like most of the last decade or so now it will come down to Medina or Ignatius. They played another great state semi last year that might have seen extra time if not for a disallowed goal late. Hudson Hoover and Walsh are all threats to knock off Medina but beating Medina and then Ignatius in succession is a massive task.

D2 will be pretty wide open with a long list of potential candidates. Howland has become the dominant team in the region winning 3 of the last 4 years but will be in a bit of a rebuild. Perennial contenders Bay, Revere and CVCA will reload as all rely on deep numbers of club players. Also D3 contenders Cardinal Mooney and Norwayne are bumping up to D2 to add to the mix. Some of the best D2 programs in the state reside in the northeast so the playoffs will be a grind.

D3 was pretty easy last year, you just penciled in Mooney to the state semis. Well this year the Cardinals along with another regional semifinalist in Norwayne are off to D2. That leaves Wickliffe, Beachwood, Kirtland Berkshire Warren JFK and Badger amongst the district finalists left. Of those I know Badger loses an awful lot but JFK brings back almost all their notable starters. Without Mooney this area is wide open and should feature some battles to get out.

One other team in D3 of note from the northeast area is United Local. They are only 30 miles from the PA line but are somehow in the NW region. They return a ton of goals, including 46 from Maddox Andrea, and a lot of experience for a team that made the regional semis last year only to lose to state runner up Ottawa Hills.
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I've ref'd United once so far.....they ARE solid. I think Berlin Hiland could make some noise, as could Kidron CC.
 
MJ_SoccerRef said:
I've ref'd United once so far.....they ARE solid. I think Berlin Hiland could make some noise, as could Kidron CC.
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United (from the match last year) does a great job moving the ball back and forth from each side of the field. They make the defense move a lot to try to break runs. Definitely a threat
 
Scores of note from last night

Boardman 7 Harding 4 Boardman's first win of the season over a struggling Boardman team
Howland 3 Ursuline 1 Tough road win at YSU for Howland. Ursuline's record is poor but the schedule has been relentless.
Canfield 4 Fitch 0 Canfield stay on top with a big road win. A tie away to Fitch last year killed their chances of winning the conference

Hubbard 3 Lakeview 0 Hubbard holds serve in what will be a tight Northeast 8 Conference
Poland 1 Range 1 Poland and Range remain undefeated in NE8 conference play.
Girard 4 Niles 0 Girard looking to hit double digit wins this year

United 5 Columbiana 3 United runs out to a 4-0 lead and holds on in the end

BIG GAME TOMORROW

Beachwood #1 in the D3 state poll comes to play Mooney at YSU at 2pm
 
Hiland is "south" for purposes of D3 since they are in the East district, which feeds to a regional involving Central and Southeast teams as well.
 
Salad76 said:
Every year it seems like LC has a good team but bows out early.

Maybe this is their year to do something?
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They've had some pretty impressive wins this year so far, including beating Bay on the road early in the year.

They were pretty good last year and had very few players graduate, so they're essentially the same roster with an extra year of experience.
 
LC was eliminated by that really good Revere team last year, hard to flog them for that one.
2021 they did suffer a clunker, losin to Louisville in the sectional final
2020 they were a .500 team, lost in PK's first game (reversal of 1-0 reular season win)
2019 district finalist despite being around .500
17 and 18 they were in D1 due to CBP
 
Walsh wins 1-0. They likely will play again in about a week and a half. For some reason this year, the Crown Conference is doing a “tournament”. With only four boys teams in the league, it will be #1 Walsh vs #4 NDCL and #2 Lake Catholic vs #3 Padua. Neither game will be close, so it will be a rematch Oct 7th
 
bucksman said:
LC was eliminated by that really good Revere team last year, hard to flog them for that one.
2021 they did suffer a clunker, losin to Louisville in the sectional final
2020 they were a .500 team, lost in PK's first game (reversal of 1-0 reular season win)
2019 district finalist despite being around .500
17 and 18 they were in D1 due to CBP
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I remember trying to find video on them in 2020 as i anticipated them beating Louisville.

Maybe this is their chance to make a run!
 
Looks like we are down to the cream of the crop

D2
Canfield v Harvey
Bay v SVSM (upset CVCA)

My guess is we see Bay but Canfield's defense has been stellar all year

Howland v Mooney
Lake Catholic v Buckeye

Hard to say here. Howland and Mooney tied earlier. That's a regional final type matchup. Lake Catholic appears to be a massive favorite versus Buckeye
 
Howland looks to be doing their thing again with a young team that is playing championship soccer at the right time. Coaching staff has these kids fired up! State rankings had this team ranked too low. Not sure why Howlands past playoff runs didn't calculate into a better ranking at years end.
 
So here we are!

D1

It's still hard to think anyone but Medina or Iggy but a lot of folks think this is Walsh's year. Gonna be some great games down the stretch.

D2

Revere went out west again and SHOULD be there for the final 4. Though I'm sure no one needs reminded of Lexington's upset potential.

Lake Catholic is probably the best team in Region 5 but they will likely have to knock out Howland AND Bay to get to State. Both are young but have the pedigree to do the job.

D3

The consensus is AOA. They would be a serious contender in D2. That's why they play the games though. Kirtland and possibly Beachwood will test them.
 
Walsh beats Hoover 2-1 to advance to the Regional Final against Medina on Saturday at 3 pm.

Walsh soccer fans can just hang out in Nordonia as the girls also play there earlier at noon against Magnificat.
 
Both Div.1 boys and girls state semifinals are rematches of last year:

(B) Ignatius vs. Medina

(G) Walsh Jesuit vs. Strongsville
Walsh and Strongsville tied 1-1 during the regular season
 
bluengold said:
Both Div.1 boys and girls state semifinals are rematches of last year:

(B) Ignatius vs. Medina

(G) Walsh Jesuit vs. Strongsville
Walsh and Strongsville tied 1-1 during the regular season
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incorrect. WJ/Strongsville was a state quarterfinal (regional final) last season.
 
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